Williams v. State

451 P.2d 849, 451 P.2d 848, 85 Nev. 169, 1969 Nev. LEXIS 534
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 17, 1969
Docket5597
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 451 P.2d 849 (Williams v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. State, 451 P.2d 849, 451 P.2d 848, 85 Nev. 169, 1969 Nev. LEXIS 534 (Neb. 1969).

Opinion

*170 OPINION

By the Court,

Collins, C. J.:

This appeal is from a conviction of robbery and a sentence to life imprisonment for being an habitual criminal. We affirm the conviction for robbery and the resulting habitual criminal sentence.

On September 6, 1967, at approximately 8:30 p.m., while Mr. E. F. Loomis, his wife and two children, were watching *171 television in a bedroom of their home, their attention was directed to a man standing in the doorway of the bedroom. He had on a black mask and was holding a gun. He ordered the Loomis family to lie on the floor, and ordered Mr. Loomis to give him some money. Mr. Loomis retrieved his trousers from a nearby chair and threw them to him. Mr. Loomis was then ordered to open the safe which was located in the bedroom. This order was complied with and from the safe the intruder was given several rolls of quarters and one roll of fifty cent pieces.

The intruder then left and Mr. Loomis called the Reno Police Department, giving them a description. The intruder was described as a short Negro male, approximately 125 pounds, wearing baggy clothes and a dark foul-weather cap around his face, with a large hole in it for the eyes and nose.

Between 8:30 and 8:45 p.m. officers Merel Kennedy and John Flynn received a call from the police dispatcher that there had been a robbery at the Loomis residence. Shortly thereafter, they were patrolling the area around the Loomis home in their patrol wagon, when at the intersection of Silver and Sierra Streets, some four blocks from the Loomis residence, they observed a short Negro male walking down the street with a valise in his hand. This person was not dressed in the manner described by Mr. Loomis. The officers called to him, whereupon he put the valise down and waited for the officers to approach him. Officer Flynn asked for some identification, and the individual stated that he had none. He was asked where he was from, and he replied “Oakland.” As the officer was about to ask a third question, the suspect jumped to the right and pulled a weapon. Shots were exchanged, and Officer Flynn was wounded. The suspect fled the scene. Officer Kennedy gave chase but lost him.

The sound of gunfire attracted the attention of Frank Cole, a member of the Washoe County Sheriff’s department. He went to the scene and observed that the suspect in his haste had left behind the valise he had been carrying. This Officer Cole took into his possession and inventoried its contents. In the valise were the clothes worn by the individual who robbed the Loomis residence. It also contained one black and one brown shoe. When appellant was later arrested, he was found to be wearing one black shoe and one brown shoe.

The appellant, Billy Williams, was arrested by other police officers sometime later when he was observed walking along the banks of the Truckee River between Sierra and Virginia Streets. At that point on the river bank the city streets are *172 much higher than the river bank. Officer Brian Milich had to climb down a tree to get the appellant. The officer searched appellant, and in his right rear pocket found a neckerchief containing six dollars worth of quarters and twenty dollars worth of half dollars. Appellant was pulled with a rope from the river bank. It-'was subsequently discovered that he had a bullet wound in his shoulder.

Appellant assigns as error the following points which relate exclusively to the robbery conviction:

I. Refusal of appellant’s offered instructions Nos. I and II concerning unsound mind and lunacy.

II. Admissibility of Officer Gault’s testimony in that it concerns evidence of other crimes.

III. The trial court’s failure to order a hearing to determine if, at the time of trial, appellant was sane.

IV. Admissibility, of Officer Flynn’s testimony concerning appellant’s involvement in the shooting incident which resulted from questioning of appellant by police officers.

1. Appellant requested, but the lower court refused, the following instructions:

I. Nevada law provides that lunatics, idiots and insane persons are not capable of committing crimes. It is expressly provided by statute that idiots and lunatics are not of sound mind. If soundness of mind and legal insanity are synonymous, the express provisions of our statute exempting idiots and lunatics from criminal responsibility would be superfluous because they would necessarily be included within the provisions exempting the insane.

II. Idiots, lunatics and insane persons are not capable of committing crimes. This is because they are not capable of manifesting the mens rea necessary to constitute a criminal act. A lunatic has been defined as a person of deranged or unsound mind; a person whose mental facilities are in a condition called lunacy. Lunacy has been defined as any form of mental unsoundnss except idiocy.

There are certain Nevada statutes which bear upon the question of the mental capability of accused persons to be held responsible for criminal acts. They are: NRS 193.190 which states that, “In every crime or public offense there must exist a union, or joint operation of act and intention, . . .”; NRS 193.200 which states, “Intention is manifested by the circumstances connected with the perpetration of the offense, and the sound mind and discretion of the person accused.” (Emphasis added.) ;

*173 Appellant contends in the absence of a sound mind there can be no intent and therefore no crime or public offense.

NRS 193.210 provides that, “A person shall be considered of sound mind who is neither an idiot nor lunatic, nor affected with insanity. ...” '

Another Nevada statute defines persons who are capable of committing crime. NRS 194.010 provides, “All persons are liable to punishment except those belonging to the following classes:

“1. . . .
“2. ...
“3. Idiots
“4. Lunatics and insane persons.”

Appellant does not contend he was insane under the M’Naghten rule at the time of commission of the robbery. M’Naghten’s case is the approved test of insanity in Nevada. Jackson v. State, 84 Nev. 203, 438 P.2d 795 (1968); Mears v. State, 83 Nev. 3, 422 P.2d 230 (1967); Bean v. State, 81 Nev. 25, 398 P.2d 251 (1965), cert. denied 384 U.S. 1012 (1966).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gould (Steven) v. State
Nevada Supreme Court, 2022
Finger v. State
27 P.3d 66 (Nevada Supreme Court, 2001)
Santillanes v. State
765 P.2d 1147 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1988)
Ybarra v. Sumner
678 F. Supp. 1480 (D. Nevada, 1988)
Melchor-Gloria v. State
660 P.2d 109 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1983)
Baccari v. State
624 P.2d 1008 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1981)
Shults v. State
616 P.2d 388 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1980)
Williams v. Wolff
497 F. Supp. 122 (D. Nevada, 1980)
Tichnell v. State
415 A.2d 830 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1980)
Lucas v. State
610 P.2d 727 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1980)
Reese v. State
596 P.2d 212 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1979)
Sparks v. State
591 P.2d 268 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1979)
Clark v. State
588 P.2d 1027 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1979)
State v. Smith
574 P.2d 548 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1977)
Williams v. State
566 P.2d 417 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1977)
Warden, Nevada State Prison v. Conner
562 P.2d 483 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1977)
Kelly v. State
561 P.2d 449 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1977)
Wood v. Warden, Nevada State Prison
530 P.2d 423 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1975)
Edwards v. State
524 P.2d 328 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
451 P.2d 849, 451 P.2d 848, 85 Nev. 169, 1969 Nev. LEXIS 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-state-nev-1969.